Pakistan:68 lawyers charged for challenging police authority

PAKISTAN: In a
mockery of the blasphemy law 68 lawyers were charged for
challenging the authority of the police

The Chief
Justice of Pakistan, Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, interpreted
the much talked about blasphemy law in a timely and
appropriate manner. He made an observation in a sou moto
case of the desecration of places of religion belonging to
the minorities, that there should be thorough and impartial
investigations into complaints of blasphemy so that no
innocent is embroiled in litigation and receives
punishment.

It was an important observation by the CJ that
the law is used unscrupulously by persons in order to settle
personal disputes, enforced conversion, land grabbing and
the killing of innocents. The accusers, even when the case
is proved to be false are never held to account for making
such accusations.

The Blasphemy Law is the most
controversial of all Pakistani laws, which has now become a
convenient tool for anyone to malign opponents for their
personal protection and interests. The law is being applied
to protest or agitate against anyone who might have used the
name of some sacred personality, whether intentionally or
otherwise. It must be asked how a blasphemy case is
applicable to a protest and this is where the sheer lunacy
comes in; the lawyers from Jhang district were voicing their
anger at what they alleged was the illegal detention of one
of their colleagues. During the protest they raised slogans
against the Station House Officer (SHO), Umar Daraz.

On
May 12, the Jhang police brought a charge of blasphemy
against 68 lawyers on the complaint of Mr. Arshad Mehmood, a
member of a religious group, the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat
(ASWJ), a front organisation for a banned Sunni sectarian
group linked to the deaths of hundreds of Shiite Muslims.
There was obvious collusion between the complainant and the
police who seemed to be looking for revenge against the
lawyers. They were more than happy to file a charge of
blasphemy against the lawyers. In the FIR against the
complainant accused that during the protest the lawyers were
shouting slogans with the name of 'Umar Daraz' and the
mention of the name, 'Umar' had hurt the complainant's
religious emotions as the name of Umar is attributed to the
name of the second Caliph of Islam.

It is important to
note that the name of the SHO, Mr. Umar Daraz, is in no way
similar to the Second Caliph of the Prophet, Umar Ibn
al-Khattab, a close companion of the Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH). Umar Daraz is a Persian term which means 'long life'
and it is used in the names of male children in the hopes
that the persons will enjoy a long life. The police tried to
use cheap religious sentiments in favour of the SHO.

The
SHO in question is a close relative of the provincial law
minister of Punjab who is famous for having close relations
with banned sectarian religious organisations. The Kotwali
police registered a First Information Report (FIR) under
Section 295/A of the Pakistan Penal Code (blasphemy law)
against eight named and 60 unnamed members of the District
Bar Association of Jhang.

The blasphemy case against the
lawyers is the best example that to obtain revenge against
any opposite party he or them may be maligned as
blasphemers.

In this incident however, the police, instead
of holding a proper investigation and legal procedures in
the case of Lawyer Nadeem, they have taken shelter behind
the popular sentiments of religion in order to provoke
Muslims in general against the lawyers. Among the lawyers
framed in the FIR there are also a good number of lawyers
from the Shia sect so that they would be easily made targets
of the religious bigots and extremists.

The interesting
point here is that the police enlisted the aid of a
prominent religious group, the ASWJ, to file the blasphemy
case in favour of the police. The ASWJ happily complied with
the request by the police and offered its services as if it
was looking for an opportunity to file a case of blasphemy.
This organisation has forced the district bar association to
surrender before them. The ASWJ accepted the apology but has
still not withdrawn its complaint against the
lawyers.

Still the police have the upper hand and at any
time they can arrest the lawyers named in the FIR and
therefore the lawyers will remain under the sword of the
blasphemy law and can receive the maximum sentence according
to the law. It is because of this that the lawyers named in
the FIR are unable to agitate against the highhandedness of
the police, arbitrary arrest, torture in custody and even
extrajudicial killing.

The authorities must understand
that the blasphemy laws are being used, more and more as a
lethal weapon in the hands of Muslim extremists, powerful
groups and now even the police in order to suppress the most
important section of society, the lawyers. The Kotwali
Police Station, Jhang district, has led the way for the
police in general to hide their crimes by the use of
extremist organisations in order to suppress civil society
and the activists through the blasphemy laws.

Civil
society and human rights organisations have been demanding
for three decades that the blasphemy laws should be repealed
but successive governments have retained it as, while the
accuser and the accused struggle and fight, the state can
remain a spectator which is a good way to appease the
fundamentalists. During the last days of the Musharraf
government an ordinance was promulgated through which the
false accuser would also be punished under the blasphemy law
but it was not passed by parliament and died a
death.

However, it would be a dangerous precedent if the
law can be used to strangle the freedom of expression and
thought and even the adoption of belief. It is also very
dangerous for the right to the freedom of individuals. The
days are not far off when the police will use blasphemy laws
to quell the voices against torture, ill-treatment and
extrajudicial killings.

The government of Pakistan,
particularly the government of Punjab must take legal action
against the police officers of Jhang district for filing a
false case of blasphemy and they instead should be booked on
the same law. The case of blasphemy against 68 lawyers must
be withdrawn immediately.

Pakistan has been converted into
a primitive society and if such misuse of the blasphemy law
is allowed to continue then no one will be spared from being
declared a blasphemer. Lynching will become the order of the
day and even the people sitting in the government might not
be spared.

The government and the parliamentarians must
repeal the blasphemy law without delay and make a better law
for the sanctity and respect of every religious sentiment.
It must not allow the people to use the law for their
personal vendettas. Complaints about blasphemy can be
thoroughly investigated by the highest police officer of the
district before a case is filed. In order to restrict the
misuse of the law the government must stop the use of
loudspeakers for religious and sectarian purposes. The law
of 2004 concerning the restriction of the use of
loudspeakers must be taken out of cold storage and
implemented.

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